Friday, May 25, 2007

samaritans too busy these days?

as i was walking up to the bus stop this morning, i saw a woman in a car pull up next to another car and start honking. "oh, she must know the person in the other car," i thought. then she really started honking. the light was green, so she was holding up traffic and the other car wasn't moving either. i was starting to be annoyed by this traffic-blocking reunion. after a few seconds more, the woman drove off, but the car in the other lane was not moving. i looked up and then i saw that the driver, a man in his 30s or so, was just sitting there, his head slumped forward onto his chest. just as the car drove off, another woman approached the car on foot and started knocking on the driver's side window. nothing. no response. the guy did not move. not good. i got out my phone and started fumbling with my phone to call 911. i told the kids sitting on the bus bench to look around for a cop car and flag it down if they saw one. as i was still fumbling with the phone, the woman who had been knocking on the window came over to the sidewalk and, just as i was asking her if she had tried to open his door, the guy in the car snapped his head up and drove right off like nothing happened. he must have been asleep or having a george michael moment or something. now here's the kicker, after the guy drove off, we were all talking excitedly and one of the kids said, "oh yeah, he was like that for about five minutes." i can't believe that a man could be slumped over in the seat of his car on a busy city street for five minutes until someone did something.

3 comments:

Deborah Eley De Bono said...

Amazing. Well, at least there were a few of you ready to help. Sometimes it takes one to start the ball rolling, sadly.

barb said...

absolutely amazing the human mind...how sad. You were good to even try.

Anonymous said...

"A George Michael moment.." LOL!!